FROM

Maybe that’s why yet another no doubt frustrated
captive dolphin has bitten a child. A dolphin at SeaWorld San Antonio’s
Dolphin Cove latched onto the hand and wrist of a 9-year-old girl so tightly
that the child’s mother was unable to free her and a SeaWorld employee had
to intervene.

Victor Hugo said, “An invasion of armies can be resisted, but not an idea
whose time has come.” And SeaWorld is finding out exactly what that means.

Problems keep mounting for the marine-mammal abusement park. Barely more
than a year after a PETA complaint prompted the U.S. Department of
Agriculture (USDA) to cite SeaWorld Orlando for violations of the Animal
Welfare Act—including allowing dolphin and orca tanks to fall into dangerous
disrepair—the park has racked up more, repeat violations for many of the
same issues.

Nakai was injured on a sharp metal edge in his tank while reportedly
fleeing from an aggressive altercation with two other orcas.

SeaWorld was just cited for failing to maintain the flooring at its Sea Lion
and Otter Stadium. The rubber flooring on which the animals walk during
shows was dangerously dislodged and littered with paint chips. The park had
been issued a repeat citation in 2007 for the same problem. During the most
recent inspection, SeaWorld was also cited for continuing to keep dozens of
expired surgical sutures—which can become unsterile, result in premature
suture failure, and lead to life-threatening infections in the animals—in
its surgery room despite a previous USDA directive to develop a protocol for
disposing of expired sutures.

When it comes to violating animal welfare laws and endangering animals, the
park’s attitude seems to be “meh.”

Maybe that’s why yet another no doubt frustrated captive dolphin has
bitten a child. A dolphin at SeaWorld San Antonio’s Dolphin Cove latched
onto the hand and wrist of a 9-year-old girl so tightly that the child’s
mother was unable to free her and a SeaWorld employee had to intervene. PETA
has filed a formal complaint with the USDA asking the agency to investigate
and hold SeaWorld accountable for endangering both the dolphin and the
public in violation of federal law.

Dolphin biting child at SeaWorld on February 22, 2014

Many children have been bitten by stressed animals at SeaWorld’s parks,
most recently in December 2012, when an 8-year-old girl sustained puncture
wounds while hand-feeding a dolphin at SeaWorld Orlando.

This most recent incident happened just a few days after another dolphin was
born into a lifetime of captivity at SeaWorld Orlando’s Discovery Cove.
Let’s hope the park doesn’t choose to separate the baby from her mother,
Rose, and ship her off to a different park.

To try to save face, SeaWorld is waging an expensive media war complete with
misleading information, discounted tickets, and Facebook contests. But the
park can’t run from the truth.

Help show SeaWorld that you’re not buying it—either its propaganda or its
tickets. For the latest news and shareable posts, “like” PETA,
Blackfish,
and The Cove
on Facebook. And be sure to
e-mail SeaWorld and tell it that the animals there have suffered enough
and deserve to spend the rest of their lives in ocean sanctuaries.

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